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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 


Cp326 

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FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


* 


THIS  TITLE 


HAS  BEEN  MICROFILMED 


A  A 

•'A**- 


-  LDORADO. 


A  L  E  C  T  U  R 


-AS  DELIVERED  BY 


IN  MANY  OF  THE  CITIES  IN 


Jhe  5outh  Atlantic  jStates. 


1893. 

Daily  Review  .Job  Pjrint, 

WILMINGTON,  N.  C. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


https://archive.org/details/negroeldoradolecOOhyps 


Not  for  its  greatness  in  eloquence,  or  scholarly  ability, 
but  for  the  plain,  unvarnished  facts,  from  a  close  and  in¬ 
terested  observer,  1  launch  this  little  boat  upon  the  turbu¬ 
lent  waters  of  Negro  Literature,  hoping  ’twill  be  the  means 
of  carrying  some  of  the  passengers  from  the  great  ship — 
cities  of  America — to  a  safer  and  better  port — the  rural 
towns  of  the  Gulf  States. 

To  mv  beloved  and  honorable  father,  John  H.  White- 
man,  of  Wilmington,  N.  0.,  to  whom  1  owe  my  success  in 
life,  and  who,  of  all  my  friends  in  life,  has  been  most  faith¬ 
ful,  this  little  effort  is  humbly,  yet,  proudly,  dedicated  by 


MAGGIE  W.  HYPSHER. 


f¥B©EO 


0N  E  of  the  great  3st  orators  who  ever  swayed  a  multi¬ 
tude  by  the  magic  charm  of  eloquence  or  convinced 
an  unwilling  court  by  the  power  of  reason  or  the  force  of 
logic,  when  graciously  permitted  to  stand  and  speak  for 
himself  on  a  special  occasion  (and  I  speak  for  myself  when 
1  speak  for  my  people)  stretched  forth  his  hand  and  said: 
“I  think  myself  happy,  O  King,  that  1  shall  speak  for  my¬ 
self  to-day.” 

Were  I  speaking  for  myself  alone  I  would  forbear, 
feeling  the  subject  an  unworthy  one,  and  not  daring  to  in¬ 
trude  myself  upon  your  valuable  time.  But  I  speak  for  a 
more  unfortunate,  oppressed,  and  yet  worthy,  portion  of 
my  family — the  Negroes  of  the  Gulf  States — Florida, 
Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  in  which  states  I 
lived  during  the  winter  and  spring  of  ’93,  associating  with, 
and  studying  the  customs  of,  the  people. 

I  stand  as  an  humble  representative  for  these  people 
who  have  lived  since  that  morning  when  the  vaulted  skies 
reverberated  with  the  melting  melodies  and  musical  echoes 
of  the  singing  stars  and  all  the  Sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy. 

To  nobly  represent  such  a  people,  I  approach  my  task 
with  trepidation  and  doubt.  Remembering  however,  that 
1  am  before  an  humane  and  intelligent  audience,  an  audience 
that  would  be  nothing  unless  charitable  toward  a  fellow 
creature’s  honest  efforts,  I  am  constrained  to  challenge 
your  patience  and  entreat  you  to  hear  me  for  my  cause. 

Beginning  with  the  southern  boundaries  of  Tennessee 
and  the  Carolinas,  we  have  continued  to  the  Southern 
Coast,  where  “the  land  stops  and  the  water  begins,”  where 
the  sombre  moans  of  the  Mexican  Gulf  are  echoed  in  the 
weird  sighing  of  the  pines  near  the  bluffs  where  the  in¬ 
trepid  De  Sota  “first  beheld  the  turbid  billows  of  the 
world’s  mightiest  river,  the. imperial  Mississippi,  rolling  in 


(; 


solemn,  silent  grandeur  to  the  sen.  1  That  is  the  country 
where  is  found  an  oppressed  and  ignorant  people  needing 
enlightenment  and  sympathy,  and  appealing  for  recognition 
and  relief. 

Many  versions  have  been  placed  on  the  whya  and 
wherefores  of  the  state  of  the  Negro  in  the  extreme  South; 
and  when  lecturing  last  January,  in  Northern  Florida, 
while  on  a  pleasure  and  business  trip  v  it  h  my  husband, 
a  gentleman  from  Kentucky  came  to  me  after  the  lecture, 
asking  me  to  furnish  letters  to  a  certain  Negro  Paper,  in 
Kentucky,  on  the  Negro  As  He  Is  In  The  South.  Then  it 
was  that  1  became  inspired  to  benefit,  in  my  humble  way, 
two  sets  of  Afro-Americans  at  once. 

The  mass  of  Afro-Americans  in  the  Gulf  States  need 
encouragement,  teachings  of  industry,  morality  and 
economy.  These  lessons  are  to  be  taught  by  the  Afro- 
Americans  from  the  Carolinas,  the  Virginias,  Georgia, 
Tennessee,  and  the  states  above  Mason's  and  Dixon’s  Line, 
because  those  in  the  latter  named  states  had  better  owners, 
better  home  training  and  earlier  advantages  of  education, 

on  a  whole,  even  while  slaves. 

/ 

In  the  dark  recesses  of  the  great  caverns  of  earth  aiv 
found  conical  bodies  formed  by  the  slowly  oozing  drops  of 
chemical  liquid,  for  numberless  centuries  standing  in  the 
blackness  of  subterranean  night,  rough,  uncouth  and 
shapeless;  yet  when  the  electrical  oscillation  of  light  is  let 
in  oir  these  hidden  figures,  they  present  a  sight  of  bewil¬ 
dering  beauty  and  resplendent  glory. 

So,  drop  by  drop,  from  the  fountains  of  the  soul,  and 
sigh  by  sigh,  from  the  miseries  of  his  many  sufferings 
through  the  many  years  of  environment,  oppression  and 
strange  vicissitudes  of  life,  have  formed  on  the  gloom v 
plantations  of  the  South,  this  Negro  Race  possessing  ail 
the  stalactites  of  love,  pity,  sympathy  and  compassion, 
which  reach  down  to  meet  the  up-rising  stalagmites  of 
sorrow,  grief,  pain  and  distress,  as  do  other  people;  and 
when  lit  up  by  the  effulgent  rays  of  the  sun  of  intelligence, 


I 


morality,  religion  and  wealth,  they  present  all  the  inde¬ 
scribable  glories  and  beauties  of  God's  highest  creation — 

o  C 

man. 

As  the  first  sliip-load  of  X  egroes  brought  to  this 
country  was  landed  on  the  coast  of  Virginia,  we  might, 
like  Thomas  Nelson  Page  in  writing  of  the  South,  declare 
“  There  is  no  better  starting  point  than  that  old  colonial 
county,  Virginia."  We  prefer  starting  where  the  mass  of 
Negroes  is,  for,  it  is  the  mass  of  the  South  with  which  we 
have  to  deal  this  evening,  and  we  assure  our  hearers  that 
the  Gulf  States  are  the  “black  belt"  of  this  countrv. 

The  Negro  of  the  entire  South  is  warm  hearted  and 
impulsive,  yet  suspicious,  and  when  a  Negro  from  the 
Carolinas,  or  even  from  Georgia,  enters  a  town  of  one  of 
the  Gulf  States,  the  inhabitants  therein  watch  udat  North¬ 
ern  Nigger"  with  a  stealth  and  distrust  that  are  amusing, 
yet  provoking.  And  though  udat  Northern  Nigger”  pre¬ 
sents  plans,  elevations,  and  means  ot  money — making  fair¬ 
ly  and  justly  before  “Us  Southerners."  “Us  South  enters’ ’ 
swear  “its  a  trick,"  “dem  people’s  hxiiT  to  rob  us,"  and 
advise  others  not  to  participate;  and  after  all,  let  their 
curiosity  run  away  with  their  previous  statements  and  join 
“dem  Northern  Niggers"  with  a  will  and  an  energy  that 
are  surprising. 

In  these  states  we  find  no  colored  people;  they  are  all 
“White-Folks  and  Niggers."  The  Whites  call  us  “Nig- 
gers,"  and  the  Negroes  call  one  another  “X  iggers." 

After  leaving  the  Carolinas,  evgry  thing  is  done  to 
impress  the  Southern  Negro  that  he  is  a  little  lower  than 
a  dog,  instead  of  “an  angel."  Particularly  is  it  so  regard¬ 
ing  riding  on  the  railroads. 

On  most  of  the  roads  the  coaches  set  aside  for 
Negroes  are  little  more  than  pig-pen3.  In  these  states  the 
coaches  are  respectively  labeled  outside,  in  large  white 
letters,  “For  White  People,"  “For  Negroes."  On  some 
branch  roads,  the  Negro  coach  is  next  to  the  engine. 


Notwithstanding  this  deplorable  state,  I  am  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  we  make  it  as  bad  as  it  is,  for  ourselves, 
and  I  do  not  blame  the  railroad  companies,  to  a  certain 
extent.  1  think  a  line  should  be  drawn  by  all  means. 
There  should  be  a  first  and  second-class  fare,  as  in  the 
Carolinas  and  the  Virginias,  and  one’s  money  and  appear¬ 
ance,  as  well  as  conduct, determine  accommodation.  There 
are  white  people  of  the  illiterate,  non-progressive  class 
beside  whom  I  would  disdain  to  sit.  And  when  I’d  stand 
and  see  that  class  entering  and  occupying  respectable  cars, 
while  Negroes  of  the  highest  culture  and  refinement,  pay¬ 
ing  the  same  money,  were  forced  into  the  “Jim  Crow  Car/’ 
the  hot  blood  of  indignation  would  rush  through  my  veins 
with  a  rapidity  equal  to  that  of  the  mighty  Mississippi  in 
its  swollen  state;  my  womanhood  would  assert  itself,  and 
from  the  depths  of  my  heart  would  arise  so  mighty  a  cry 
for  a  removal  of  the  hand  of  oppression,  that  for  a  while, 
my  body  would  seem  rent  in  twain.  Then  I’d  enter  the 
Negro  -coach,  there  beholding  Negroes  of  all  colors  and 
grades,  huddled  together  like  so  many  cattle  in  a  crowded 
pen.  There  you  would  see  men,  women  and  children  with 
unkempt  hail*,  some  barefooted  and  ragged,  with  children 
who  seemed  to  know  not  the  virtue  in  water  and  soap. 
By  their  sides,  where  they  had  eaten,  I’d  see  on  the  seats 
old  meat,  bones,  fragments  of  bread,  potatoes,  etc.  On 
the  floor  would  often  be  their  baggage,  consisting  of 
bundles  of  various  things  tied  in  bandanna  handkerchiefs. 
Sometimes  one  would  have  a  pig  tied  on  the  floor,  live 
chickens,  raw  fish,  jugs  of  molasses,  or  more  often, whiskey. 
In  the  winter  the  floor  around  the  stove  and  the  wall 
would  be  a  pool  of  spittle  causing  any  decent  person’s 
stomach  to  revolt  at  once,  with  all  its  might.  The  scent 
from,  tobacco,  whiskey  and  old  rotten  pipes  would  repel 
the  most  determined. 

Is  it  surprising,  then,  that  when  some  cultured  man 
or  woman  (though  Negroes)  entered  such  a  place  that 
they’d  seek  some  far  away  corner  from  his  own  people  ( 


!) 


A  thousand  times,  No;  and  yet  the  very  next  time  the 
train  stopped,  some  man,  scented  with  tobacco  and  smoke, 
and  whose  body  needed  soap,  water  and  clothes,  would 
enter  and,  if  possible,  seat  himself  beside  the  most  decent 
looking  woman  in  there,  t  he  Negro  men  do  not  respect 
the  N  egro  women  !  How  can  they  expect  other  races  to 
do  so?  Of  course,  in  the  rural  districts  it  is  so  very  bad; 
but  in  every  community  there  are  families  of  the  highest 
order,  worthy  exemplars  of  any  people. 

Florida,  though  the  newest  state  of  them  all,  is  by  far, 
in  many  respects,  the  best.  The  state  is  being  built  up 
and  peopled  by  Northern  whites  who  infuse  their  thrift, 
cleanliness,  intellectuality,  morality,  etc.  into  communities 
that  have  been  neglected.  This  influence  reaches  and 
affects  the  working  classes. 

From  the  South  Atlantic  States  come  the  teachers, 
lawyers,  preachers,  doctors  and  other  professional  and 
trades  men  who  go  into  families,  start  homes,  churches, 
schools  and  business,  setting  examples  for  good  that  have 
a  lasting  and  eternal  impression.  The  result  is,  we  find 
more  professional  young  men — successful  ones — and  more 
drug  stores  and  tine  houses  of  merchandise,  owned  and 
managed  by  young  Negroes,  m  Florida  than  in  any  other 
state  in  the  Union.  •  As  proof,  we  refer  you  to  the  many 
hundred  advertisements  of  these  various  establishments, 
carried  by  Prof.  H.  M.  Hypsher,  East  Tennessee’s  great 
Sterioptician.  In  the  ports  of  Florida,  like  Jacksonville 
and  Pensacola,  a  Negro  book-keeper  became  to  our  eyes  a 
common  sight.  In  Florida,  Jacksonville  is  the  N  egro 
Athens.  There  we  find  schools,  under  many  churches, 
doing  a  Herculean  work.  In  this  city  the  Evening  Times, 
a  white  paper,  devotes  a  page  of  its  worthy  self  to  the 
Negro,  with  a  Negro  editor. 

We  must  not  leave  Jacksonville  without  mentioning 
Dr.  Williams  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  A  more  perfect 
Christian,  Chesterfield-like  and  scholarly  gentleman  we 
never  met.  After  exhibiting  in  his  great  church  to  his 


10 


cultured  congregation,  we  were  honored  by  being  allowed 
to  sit  at  his  feet,  as  at  a  Gamaliel’s,  and  listened  to  a  ser¬ 
mon  on  “Lynch  Law,”  which  we  wish  could  have  been 
thrown  to  the  world  in  letters  of  fire,  burning,  so  to  speak, 
the  defiler  of  law  and  the  midnight  assassin.  We  would 
like  to  speak  individually  of  Rev.  Baily,  the  great  Baptist 
Divine  of  Tallahassee,  and  many  other  great  and  good  men 
and  women  who  are  doing  the  work  of  a  Hercules,  each; 
but  time  admonishes  me  to  hasten. 

In  Florida  we  find  many  men  of  color  owning  from 
one  to  two  orange  farms.  These  orange  growers,  during 
the  season,  easily  ship  a  thousand  boxes  of  oranges  at  two 
and  a  half  dollars  per  box.  But  we  must  leave  the  land 
of  flowers  and  pay  what  the  ladies  term  a  fashionable  call 
— (which  means  a  short  one,)  during  which  one  does  not 
lay  off  hat  or  wrap  — to  old  Alabama. 

We  crossed  this  state  three  times,  resting  the  last  time 
at  Birmingham,  as  the  name  invites  us  to  do.  Leaving 
Pensacola,  Florida,  on  the  night  train  of  March  31st,  we 
secured,  through  a  friend,  a  sleeper  for  Mobile,  Alabama, 
into  which  city  we  rushed  on  the  early  morning  train  of  Fast¬ 
er  Day  while  the  city  and  its  inhabitants  were  still  wrapt  in 
sleep.  After  a  few  hours  rest  we  went  to  church  and  to 
“do”  the  city. 

The  people  of  Mobile  belong  to  the  highly  intellectual 
order,  possessing  much  of  the  dark  beauty  of  the  Creoles 
who  are  common  to  Mobile  and  the  state  of  Louisiana.  As 
do  their  white  sisters,  the  women  there  dress  very  hand¬ 
somely  and  gaudily;  indeed,  they  look  like  beautiful  but¬ 
terflies,  so  gaudily  are  they  dressed  and  so  lightly  do  they 
trip  about.  As  I  stood  and  gazed  at  the  beautiful  (beau¬ 
tiful  in  many  ways)  women  of  St.  Augustine,  Florida,  and 
Mobile,  and  walked  up  into  the  centres  of  the  same  cities 
where  the  old  slave  markets  still  stand,  where  God’s  image 
in  ebony  was  once  bartered  and  sold  as  so  much  chattel,  I 
was  forced  to  exclaim:  What  a  powerful  God  !  How 
fortunate  am  I  in  being  the  creature  of  II is  mercy  ! 


*  e  iouiul  the  A.  M.  E.  Z.  Church  monarch  of  almost 
a  sae  surveyed  in  Mobile,  with  North  Carolinians,  Rev. 
ferny er,  Elder  Smith  and  others,  in  authority  under  the 
Episcopal  guidance  of  the  great  Bishop  Petty.  Here  we 
found  our  friend  Mrs.  Bishop  Petty,  whom  we  formerly 
knew  as  the  beautiful  Miss  Sarah  Dudley  of  Newbern,  N. 
C.,  known  for  her  personal  charms  and  State  fame  as  a 
newspaper  writer,  now  developed  into  a  more  charming 
and  handsome  young  matron,  spending  Easter  with  her 
friends  and  old  schoolmate  Mrs.  Rev.  Smith.  The  pleas¬ 
ure  of  our  stay  was  greatly  increased  by  meeting  our 
friend  of  younger  days. 

Of  course  in  Alabama,  as  in  other  Southern  States, 
there  is  yet  much  need  of  heeding  the  Macedonian  cry: 
'Home  over  and  help  us,'1  but  the  State  Normal  School  at 
Fuskegee,  managed  bv  the  well  known,  loved  and  popular 
Prof.  B  rooker  1.  Washington,  is  a  mighty  sun  whose  efful¬ 
gent  rays  penetrate  some  of  the  darkest  corners  of  the 
state. 

The  people  of  Tuskaloosa,  Alabama,  a  fine  little  town 
near  Birmingham,  live  in  a  very  intellectual  atmosphere 
with  such  men  of  culture  and  ability  as  Profs.  Barnes, 
Croton  and  Jones  to  the  front,  aided  by  the  Presbyterian 
Theological  Institute,  Jones  University,  Rev.  Sherman  of 
the  Zion  Church,  and  others. 

So  great  is  the  mixture  of  nations  at  Birmingham 
that,  were  it  not  for  the  difference  in  size,  I’d  think  myself 
in  a  second  New  Orleans.  People  of  every  race,  national¬ 
ity,  class  and  condition  flocked  to  Birmingham  during  its 
boom  several  years  ago;  hence  the  educators  have  much 
material  upon  which  to  work. 

Dr.  W.  G.  Alexander,  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  Rev. 
Jordan,  of  the  Sixth  Ave.  Baptist  Church,  Dr.  Warner,  of 
the  Zion  Church,  and  Rev.  F.  W.  Walker,  of  Shiloh  Bap¬ 
tist  Church,  are  certainly  men  of  cultuie,  ability,  eloquence 
and  executive  power,  working  individually,  and  we  trust 
collectively,  for  the  continuance  of  the  Master’s  kingdom 


and  the  elevation  of  fallen  humanity.  We  have  never 
heard  more  angelic  music  than  that  coming  from  the  choirs 
of  Dr.  Alexander  and  Rev.  Jordan,  seeming  to  “Vie  with 
Gabriel  as  lie  sings  in  notes  almost  divine.” 


There  is  a  great  work  to  be  done  in  the  great  coal 
and  iron  mining  regions  of  Alabama  where  hundreds,  yea 
thousands,  of  Negro  miners  live  with  their  families,  making 
from  thirty  to  a  hundred  dollars  each,  per  month,  yet 
living  from  hand  to  mouth,  many  of  them  being  paupers 
two  days  after  they’ve  drawn  their  month’s  wages.  Some 
few,  however,  we  find  with  a  bank  account  and  looking 
out  for  a  rainy  day. 


We  want  such  men  and  women  as  Prof,  and  Mrs.  W. 
H.  Hoilin,  who  left  their  comfortable  home  in  Jackson, 
Mississippi,  went  to  the  Johns  Mines,  Alabama,  arid  there 
are  teaching  by  example  what  precept  would  fail  to  reach. 


In  a  certain  sense  we  can  term  Mississippi  and 
Louisiana  one  state,  for  the  people  of  both  races  nre  very 
much  alike,  and  we  think  that  the  inimical  feelings  be¬ 
tween  the  two  races  are  far  more  prevalent  than  in  the 
other*  states.  The  Negroes'  fear  of  the  “Crackers”  of 
Florida  and  the  “Mossbacks”  of  Alabama  is  rapidly  abat¬ 
ing,  but  when  you  tell  one  in  Mississippi  of  the  “Sages” 
and  the  “hooziers”  and  the  “planter's”  of  Louisiana,  he  be¬ 
gins  to  tremble.  Of  course,  in  the  cities  it  is  nothing  like 


so  bad;  but  in  the  small  towns,  villages  and  settlements, 
the  topics  talked  of  to  stranger  s  are,  a  certain  massacre, 
lynching,  whipping,  white  capism,  etc.  True,  Louisiana 
has  had  a  Negro  governor,  and  Mississippi  a  Negro  lieu¬ 
tenant  governor,  but  on  many  of  the  plantations  the  Negro 
is  still  a  slave.  On  the  plantation  where  hundreds  of 
th  era  live,  they  are  in  bondage  until  Saturday  and  Sunday. 
On  these  days  they  crowd  the  cars,  going  from  one  plan¬ 
tation  to  the  other,  visiting  relatives  and  friends,  actually 
talking  about  “Marse  So  and  So,”  cringing  and  peeping  at 
the  conductor  and  every  other  white  man,  acting  as  though 


‘> 

o 


i  liej  did  not  know  that  (be  war  was  over,  and  dressing  in 
tlie  most  amusing  and  ridiculous  manner. 

In  and  around  the  great,  yet  wicked,  city  of  New 
Orleans,  we  find  the  Negro  imitating  his  white  brother  by 
doing  his  big  marketing  and  shopping  on  the  Sabbath; 
having  his  biggest  cock  fights,  glove  contests  and  base 
ball  games  on  the  Christian’s  great  rest  day, and  in  every  way 
possible  desecrating  that  holy  day  that  is  set  aside  and 
belongs  to  the  “Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift.”  1 
stood  at  my  bed-room  window  on  a  Sabbath  afternoon  in 
April,  ’93,  and  looking  in  through  the  window  of  a  fencing 
hall,  there  beheld  Negro  pugilists  fight  round  after  round 
till  one  was  knocked  down  and  lay  senseless  for  three 
hours.  This  was  in  Donaldsonvilie,  Louisiana. 

At  the  next  station,  White  Castle,  we  found  Rev.  A. 
L.  Reese,  of  the  Baptist  church,  leaving  no  stone  unturned 
in  his  endeavor  to  bring  the  wanderer  home.  Rev.  Reese 
is  a  cultured,  practical,  Christian  gentleman  who  grasps 
opportunity  by  the  forelock.  Assisted  by  a  refined, 
Christian  wife,  he  draws  his  large  congregation  around  him, 
teaching  them  life  and  eternitv  lessons,  as  a  father  does  his 
children.  Trulv  we  find  here,  a  great  man,  filling  a  needv 

j  /  O  7  CT  * 

place. 

hi  the  city  of  Jackson,  Mississippi,  we  find  the  people 
above  the  average  Mississippian,  intellectually.  We  find  the 
work  of  .Northern  philanthropists  and  well  educated  Ne¬ 
groes  driving  ignorance  and  superstition  as  doth  the  fire  the 
dry  prairie  grass  of  the  West,  and  in  their  stead  (igno¬ 
rance  and  superstition)  we  find  refined  homes,  great  institu¬ 
tions  of  learning,  and  in  fact,  the  Negro  men  and  women 
walking  all  the  higher  courts  of  enlightened  man.  It  was 
in  this  city,  (Jackson,)  that  we  found  several  Negro  men 
doing  reportorial  work  for  Northern  and  Central  States 
white  papers. 

In  the  rural  districts  of  the  Gulf,  as  well  as  other 
states  of  the  Union,  the  Negro  catches  on  to  big  sounding 
words  and  phrases,  indulging  in  them  plentifully,  without 


u 


regard  to  meaning,  and  thinks  he  makes  a  big  catch  when 
doing  so  I  remember  one  very  dark  night  as  we  got  off 
the  train  at  Forest,  Mississippi,  there  was  no  light  what¬ 
ever  in  the  “Colored  Waiting  Room.”  and  turning  to  me, 
Prof.  Hypshei  remarked:  “We  surely  ought  to  have  a  light 
of  some  kind  here,”  whereupon  a  bright  and  sprightly 
looking  colored  gentleman  replied:  “No  sah  !  we  aint 
high  miff  constaminated  in  dis  place  mong  de  white  folks 
for  dat;”  meaning  that  the  white  people  do  not  estimate 
them  highly. 


One  has  but  to  look  out  of  the  car  window,  when 
stopping  at  small  stations,  to  see  Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin  in  le- 
ality.  You  see  a  Topsy,  Aunt  Cloe,  Sambo,  Quimbo  and 
a  LeGree  all  along  the.  line.  At  every?' stop  Negro  men  and 
boys  come  in  the  cars,  take  a  drink  of  ice  water  from  the 
cooler,  make  a  big  spit  on  the  floor,  examine  the  faces  of 
tlie  passengers  and  walk  out  with  the  air  of  a  Custom 
House  Inspector. 

But.,  after  all,  the  intellectual  Negro  with  energy  and 
enterprise,  living  in  the  South,  is  a  little  king;  so  many 
resources  are  open  to  him,  whereas  in  the  North  the 
tradesman  and  professional  man  are  the  exception;  and  the 
majority  a:*e  janitors,  coachmen  and  waiters.  In  the  South 
the  order  is  reversed,  and  as  the  mass  of  Negroes  live  in 
the  South,  every  town  of  four  thousand  and  upward  can 
well  support  two  Negro  physicians,  one  good  drug  store, 
one  dentist,  two  lawyers,  six  teachers,  ten  dressmakers, 
one  milliner,  twelve  carpenters,  eight  brickmasons,  six 
painters;  and  then  there  will  be  Negro  families  needing 
cooks,  nurses,  washerwomen,  etc.  The  South  is  our  Eldo¬ 
rado,  did  we  but  know  it.  Here  we  get  every  day,  for  a 
mere  trifle,  fresh  provisions,  vegetables,  melons  and,  in 
fact,  nearly  every  thing  to  eat;  (a  family  in  the  Gulf 
States  without  a  vegetable  garden  is  throwing  away  money.) 

There  are  small  towns  in  the  four  states  with  which 
we’ve  tried  to  deal,  perishing  for  the  need  of  educated, 
common-sense  men  and  women  who  ought  to  leave  the  cities. 


go  out  and  teach  my  people  how  to  gather  the  gold  ui 
harvest  actually  lying  at  their  feet. 

O,  men  and  women  of  the  trades  and  professions  in 
many  of  the  cities,  living  on  starving  rates,  arise  and  be¬ 
take  yourselves  to  the  small  towns  and  rural  places  of  the 
South  !  Around  many  of  the  mines  of  Alabama  a  teacher 
easily  secures  a  $60  per  month  position  and  a  dressmaker 
can  make  $50  per  month. 

After  having  gone  into  ail  sections  of  the  country, 
covering  many  of  the  territories  and  states,  I  am  constrain¬ 
ed  to  believe  that  the  Negro  himself  must  solve  his  problem 
with  intellectuality,  morality  and  wealth. 

We  have  gone  into  what  were  termed  the  “meanest 
small  towns”  of  Georgia  and  Alabama  and  have  had  great 
courtesies  shown  us  by  what  were  termed  the  “meanest 
white  people.”  We  have  exhibited  in  some  of  their  best 
white  academies,  often  to  audiences  two-thirds,  yea  four 
fifths,  white. 

Remember  the  dark, unhappy  past;  remember  how  many 
Negroes  fell  victim  of  the  lash  and  the  prey  of  the  blood¬ 
hound.  Remember  how  blessed  you  are,  and  that  on  you 
devolves  the  duty  to  carry  the  light  of  education,  in  which 
light  there  are  thousands  of  rays  shedding  cleanliness,  re¬ 
ligion,  morality,  wealth  etc. 

Young  men  and  women,  pouring  out  from  the  schools 
and  colleges,  I  congratulate  you  that  it  is  yours  to  innabit 
this  future  Elysium.  1  rejoice  that  you  have  lived  to  see 
t  lie  day  when  the  passions  that  led  the  North  and  South 
into  battle  are  over;  you  have .  caught  the  perfume  of  roses 
mellowed  into  softer  memories  of  peace,  and  teat  tie 
Negro  which  was  the  bone  of  contention  and  dissension 

proves  that1  UA  man’s  a  man,  for  a’  that,” 

I  rejoice  that  you  live  in  the  day  when  you  can  set 
the  example  of  fidelity  and  elevation  for  the  race,  and  to 
show  that  men  who  died  loyal  to  it  and  God  have  pro¬ 
duced  sons  and  daughters  of  the  same  stamp,  witii  greater 
opportunities  and  of  whom  any  race  might  well  be  proud. 


All  honor  to  the  brave  mothers  and  fathers  of  the 
past !  To  those  who  fell  ere  the  victory  was  ours,  beyond 
the  west  where  the  day  piles  up  its  splendor,  I  send  this 
greeting  to  their  spirits. 

All  honor  to  the  great  men  and  women  of  to-dav  who 
dare  to  come  over  and  help  us ! 

Hail,  followers  of  God  and  right!  Hail,  glorified 
and  risen  champion  of  the  race  !  Your  courage  has  at  last 
partaken  of  your  triumphs,  and  the  ills  to  which  you  were 
subjected  are  at  last  slowly  being  righted.  Heaven’s  slow 
justice  is  at  last  arriving,  and  in  the  morning  light  of 
God’$  own  perfect  day  your  principles  will  be  vindicated. 

And  tc  those  of  us  who  go  forth  to  the  rescue  of  our 
more  unfon  unate  brothers  and  sisters,  let  me  advise  that 
we  commend  ourselves  to  Him  who  straightens  the  crooked 
paths,  fills  the  valleys,  brings  down  the  mountains,  and 
in  a  thousand  more  mysterious  ways  proves  the  “Father¬ 
hood  of  God  and  brtlierhood  of  man.” 

Finis. 


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